BRA probes mistreatment claim

The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) says it has been investigating recent claims of mistreatment levelled by a customer against staff at two of its offices.

In a statement on Wednesday, BRA Public Relations Officer (PRO) Carolyn Williams-Gayle also stressed that a recent decision to process visitor’s permits online through SurePay was in no way related to the incident.

In an article published in Barbados TODAY’s Tuesday’s edition, Arrianne Toney recalled suffering embarrassment at the hands of BRA staff while attempting to purchase a driver’s permit after arriving from Canada on October 4.

According to her, customer service representatives, and later managers, instructed her to leave their offices at Oistins, Christ Church and the Pine, St Michael and self-isolate as she was in breach of Coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols.

At the time, those instructions were inconsistent with Barbados’ protocols for passengers coming from countries like Canada that were deemed to be at medium-risk for COVID-19.

In that article, Barbados TODAY also indicated that BRA’s PRO “could not” comment on the allegations.

However, in a clarification note, Williams-Gayle said: “At the time that the article was published, the Barbados Revenue Authority was not aware of the incident and was investigating the matter.”

“Additionally, the transition to online applications for visitor’s permits was coincidental and in no way related,” the statement added.

Barbados TODAY was unable to secure comment from health officials.
(KS)